A Town Called Panic

"A Town Called Panic" (in French, "Panique au Village") is a 2003 stop motion animated series distributed by Aardman Animations and produced in Belgium by Vincent Patar and Stéphane Aubier for La Parti & Pic Pic André. It follows the everyday events of Cowboy, Indian and Horse in a small rural town as they go about their lives. Each episode is roughly 5 minutes long and is crudely animated: the characters are meant to resemble cheap toy figurines. Some stations broadcast several episodes in a 15 or 30-minute block.

A spinoff animated feature film called "Panic" is being produced and is scheduled for completion in Spring 2009. [http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117980323.html?categoryid=13&cs=1]

"A Town Called Panic" is seen worldwide on channels such as ABC Rollercoaster in Australia, Nicktoons Network in the United States, and Teletoon in Canada, and is available online at Atom Films.

The Cravendale Milk adverts in the UK use the same style of animation using a Pirate, a Cow and a bicyclist as the characters.

List of major characters

*Horse is the level-headed and sometimes temperamental 'leader' of the pack. He is forever keeping Cowboy and Indian in line, as well as cleaning up mistakes made by either two. He is an accomplished cook and enjoys keeping a clean house
*Cowboy is your 'average' cowboy who dresses in blue. He gets along with Indian and enjoys disobeying Horse's rules, which leads to trouble. He also likes to hunt and often brandishes a carbine.
*Indian is a stereotypical native American chief. He enjoys painting and shooting with his bow and arrow and causing mischief in the house. Indian is visibly more level-headed than Cowboy.

Minor characters:
*Steven is the local farmer, living across the road from Cowboy, Indian and Horse. He makes up for his small stature by shouting everything he says. He loves his tractor and his farm.
*Jeanine is Steven's wife after they met at a tractor club. She is the voice of reason, occasionally defending Cowboy and Indian whenever they misbehave.
*Bernadette is Steven and Jeanine's daughter.
*Postman is the town's postman, he rides his bicycle over the countryside delivering all the mail whilst whistling almost continuously.
*Constable is the nearest the town has to a policeman, his main role is basically acting as the town's traffic lights. He lives in a sentry box between Cowboy, Indian and Horse's house and Steven and Jeanine's farm. He only appears when serious trouble occurs or when a car passes. He speaks with a Geordie accent
*Simon owns the local campsite. He arrived after accidentally falling off a holiday coach and bought the plot of land he landed on.
*Yuri is a cosmonaut who lives in a spaceship, which is seen either at its docking platform in town or in space. He is sometimes accompanied by his fellow cosmonaut Igor.

List of episodes

* Cake
* Constables Fantastic Voyage
* Cowboy and Indian Go Camping
* Cowboy Goes Hunting
* Cow-Hulk
* Donkey gets Kidnapped
* Fox Hunt
* Horses Nephew
* Indian Treasure
* Jeanine & Steven's Vacation
* Lisa and Jan
* Robin
* Still Life
* The Big Sleep
* The Card Thieves
* The Cycle Race
* The Easy Chair
* The Grand Day Out
* The Picnic
* The Play

External links

* [http://www.atomfilms.com/films/town_called_panic.jsp/ Watch the Entire A Town Called Panic Series Online (English)]
* [http://www.paniqueauvillage.com/ Panique au Village (French)]
* [http://www.atowncalledpanic.tv/ A Town Called Panic (English)]
* [http://www.laparti.com/ La parti]
* [http://www.picpicandre.be/ Pic Pic Andre]
* [http://news.awn.com/index.php?ltype=cat&category1=MIP-TV&newsitem_no=16622 AWN: "Aardman Draws Buyers To A Town Called Panic"]